Day 1 - IFA International

LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE

LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE The Importance of Patent Pooling Roberto Dini, founder of Sisvel, explains his objectives for IFA [ Interview by Richard Barnes ] Sisvel generally comes to IFA wearing two hats: one for intellectual property protection, and the other for the development of new technologies. How is the company developing in each of these fields? In the field of licensing Sisvel is active in arranging and launching new joint licensing programmes and managing the existing ones covering inter alias, LTE and wireless technologies. Can you explain your patent pooling and why it’s becoming increasingly important today? Patent pooling, or joint licensing agreements, are the best way to license groups of patents that give advantages both to licensors and to licensees. For the patent owners it is the most effective way to efficiently license their patents, while this is also the cheapest way for the licensees to acquire a license for technologies covered by standards. Why, in LTE for example, is this even more important? The LTE technology is very sophisticated because it is a further enhancement of the 3G technology which was already sophisticated. Why is IFA so important to you as a platform for reaching the right partners? Technologies developed by Sisvel are focused on consumer electronic products, such as 3D transmission and vision. When you are acting in the field of transmissionreceiving systems you need to develop the entire chain of products and equipment to put the new technology into the market. At IFA we can find all the relevant potential partners from the receiving side. Hall 2.2 Stand 104 Roberto Dini Founder of Sisvel Rovi’s DivX 10 Gives HEVC Power to the People IFA 2013 is the launch platform for Rovi’s nextgeneration consumer software app, DivX 10, which offers the free creation and playback and streaming of DivX video in the new HEVC/H.265 standard. The latest innovation in Rovi’s pioneering DivX software range, DivX 10 puts, for the first time, the power of HEVC — expected to deliver up to 50% better compression than H.264 —into consumers’ hands. Available as a free download for Windows and Mac computers, DivX 10 provides users with an easy and cost-effective solution for playing, creating and streaming popular video formats, including HEVC, for high-quality playback across multiple screens, from PCs to mobile devices. Hailing the DivX 10 as a game-changing set of apps, Kanaan Jemili, Rovi’s senior vice-president of product management, said as well as enabling consumers to deliver personal video more efficiently and in a higler quality the new software would help fuel HEVC support in CE devices. Jemili added: A first of its kind, DivX 10 is one element of a broader DivX HEVC ecosystem spanning software, hardware, content and services that will help companies realise new cost savings and improve the video entertainment experience for consumers. Hall 25 Stand 151 ADVERTORIAL Rovi’s DivX 10 consumer software application 32

LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE [ SMART TV & UHD TV ] Sharp Europe Focuses on Growth Pacts, partnerships and product firsts signal new era Sharp has entered a new phase of regeneration and growth, which includes new partnerships, alliances and technologies. Paul Molyneux, CEO of Sharp Europe explains how this will play out at IFA 2013… Paul Molyneux CEO, Sharp Europe Hall 2.2 Stand 114 [ Interview by Rciahrd Barnes ] Our focus for IFA is to meet with the customers and partners who are key to us achieving European growth. We are also using IFA to showcase our product ranges across all our domains, including the world’s largest LCD TV — our 90-inch LC-90LE757E — which we launched in Europe in July. What has Sharp been doing in the TV space in the last 12 months? Sharp has been at the forefront of many TV firsts throughout the years and this year is no different. We’re continuing to innovate with our 90- inch LED TV — the largest commercially available in the world. People want that immersive experience at home and they want the best picture quality. Our TVs deliver this. We’re also innovating through our AQUOS and Quattron Colour technologies, which deliver a range of benefits, from superior image quality and colour definition to immersive experience and design. We started selling the Sharp AQUOS UHD TV, the world’s only 70-inch TV with THX 4K certification, in the US in August. To create the extra detail that UHD enables, the AQUOS UHD LED TV uses an advanced up-scaling technology that enhances anything you watch with incredible detail and clarity. We will be bringing this to Europe next. Last year, you announced the arrival of IGZO technology. Where are we up to with IGZO displays? We’re pioneering thinner, brighter, higher resolution displays, while reducing power consumption thanks to our new IGZO technology. The PN-K321H — our first ultra-high resolution 32-inch display based on IGZO technology for business use — has been on sale in Europe for several months. We’re currently in the process of launching a groundbreaking touchscreen version, which allows for a completely new and more intuitive working style. UHD Set to Boost the TV Market Toshiba’s Allen Pestell has high hopes for UHD UHD TV has arrived – but where does it go from here? The battle for big screens with UHD display technology has been declared at IFA, but how much is UHD driving the market? We put the question to Allen Pestell, Senior Group Product Manager (TV & Blu-ray), Toshiba Europe… [ Interview by Richard Barnes ] It’s a new technology, so it’s injecting life into the market again, and demand is growing for ever-bigger screens. For consumers, UHD brings a home cinema” feel to the living room. Tell us a little bit more about the UHD TV offering from Toshiba on show at IFA. The timing of IFA is excellent, because we will be launching the L9 series to the public for the first time – with distribution having started in mid-August. We have three screen sizes: 58- inch, 65-inch and 84-inch. These are powered by our proprietary Cevo4K engine, which allows us to do a number of things, including showing UHD content from a PC using an HDMI cable. Most manufacturers are now bringing out UHD models. What are your key differentiators? The key area of difference is the overall picture processing quality. This is where Toshiba is particularly strong due to our Cevo chipset, which deals with a number of different areas of the picture, focusing on colour detail and real-time colour restoration of images. For retailers, there is a big learning curve. How are you informing them about UHD? IFA is an excellent opportunity for this. We have been talking about 4K for about a year and a half now, and we have a number of showcases taking place, from retailer meetings to in-store demonstrations. How do you see UHD developing over the next years? As the pricing comes down, the products will become more and more mainstream. Ultra HD itself is still a young technology. We are confident in this technology because consumers can clearly see the difference and they will stir demand. “It’s a new technology, so it’s injecting life into the market again, and larger sizes are growing in popularity” Hall 21 Stand 101 www.ifa-international.org IFAInternational • Friday 6 th September 2013 33